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A VPN’s main purpose is to keep you safe and private online. However, not all VPNs are the same, and not every VPN can achieve that goal – some will expose your private information. We separated the wheat from the chaff for you, so read on to find the best VPN for privacy.
Written by Samson Kiarie (Writer) Reviewed by Aleksandar Kochovski (Editor) Facts checked by Eugenie Tiu (Editorial Assistant) Last Updated: 2024-02-20T10:33:11+00:00
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What Makes the Best VPN for Privacy?
While many VPN providers claim to enhance your privacy, not every VPN is up to the task. We put various services through the wringer, and the VPNs below were the standout performers.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is a privacy juggernaut with RAM-only servers. It offers robust security features and a strict no-logs policy, ensuring that your personal information remains private. ExpressVPN masks your real IP address and encrypts your traffic, making it virtually impossible for snoopers to intercept or read it. With a kill switch and leak protection, ExpressVPN ensures that your online activities remain private and secure.
NordVPN
NordVPN is an affordable privacy VPN with a dark web monitoring tool. It offers excellent privacy features, including masking your IP address, encrypting your traffic, and providing leak protection. NordVPN also offers a unique feature that monitors the dark web for any compromised credentials associated with your email address, providing an extra layer of security.
Surfshark
Surfshark is a private VPN that allows unlimited simultaneous connections. With Surfshark, you can protect all your devices without compromising your privacy. It offers robust encryption and leak protection to ensure that your personal information remains private. Surfshark also provides additional features like ad and malware blocking for a safer browsing experience.
CyberGhost
CyberGhost is a privacy VPN that offers automatic WiFi protection. It ensures that your internet traffic is always secure, even when connecting to public WiFi networks. CyberGhost masks your IP address, encrypts your traffic, and provides leak protection to keep your personal information private. It also offers additional features like ad and malware blocking for a safer online experience.
Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access is a cheap yet reliable VPN for privacy. It offers strong encryption, leak protection, and a strict no-logs policy to keep your personal information private. Private Internet Access also provides additional features like ad and malware blocking, as well as a kill switch for added security.
A VPN for privacy must ably protect the personal information you use or create while using the internet. The VPN should mask your real IP address to make it impossible to track. It should also have solid VPN protocols and encryption for wrapping your traffic in an impervious encryption layer to stop snoopers from intercepting or reading it. Beyond that, you want a VPN to have a kill switch to cut off your internet traffic when the VPN connection drops. This, coupled with IP, WebRTC, and DNS leak protection, prevents accidental leaks that could expose your personal information to third parties and malicious snoopers. That includes your ISP, hackers, and surveillance agencies. With these tools, you’d think the privacy problem is solved, but there’s a big catch. The VPN provider can still see your digital footprints and personal information. That’s why a VPN needs a tested no-logs policy that offers the assurance that the VPN company won’t collect, store, or share your personal data.
Best Free Private VPNs
Nothing in life comes for free, and that holds true for VPNs as well. Running a secure VPN software requires a great deal of resources and investment. VPN providers that have your best interest at heart will charge for their service to recoup the investment and turn a profit. Most free VPN services collect your data and sell it to turn a profit. For this reason, you should avoid free VPNs because most of them don’t have your online privacy in mind.
VPNs that offer a free plan in addition to a premium paid VPN service are much more trustworthy, as you can read in our best free VPN guide. For example, Windscribe is a free VPN service you can trust to protect your digital privacy. Its free version is quite generous, as it lets you tinker with all the tools in the Windscribe arsenal, and you get access to 10 server locations and 10GB of monthly data. It’s the best free VPN for PCs, among many other categories.
Final Thoughts
The internet landscape is fraught with digital privacy risks. Hackers are lurking online, scanning for any vulnerability in your security system to penetrate your device and steal your personal information. Rogue ISPs and advertisers are looking for an opportunity to mass-collect user data and sell it to the highest bidder, whereas some restrictive governments want to snoop on your online activities. We recommend using one of the best privacy VPNs to enhance your online privacy.
If you’re just getting started, ExpressVPN should be right up your alley. Besides being user-friendly, it has all the tools you need to remain safe and anonymous online. If the price is a turnoff for you, the rest of our list has cheaper yet capable alternatives. If the need for privacy and anonymity is born out of your desire to do ethical hacking, be sure to read our best VPN for hackers.
Which VPN do you use to enhance your digital privacy? Is there a specific privacy feature that you look for? What other best practices do you follow to maintain top-notch privacy online? We’d like to hear about it in the comment section. As always, thank you for reading.
FAQ
Are VPNs Good for Privacy?
VPNs are good for privacy because they mask your IP address and encrypt your internet traffic, making it difficult for snoopers (including your ISP) to track or read it.
What Is the Most Anonymous VPN?
Most top-tier VPNs disguise your IP and encrypt your traffic to keep you anonymous online. However, the most anonymous VPNs come with additional tools, such as ad and malware blockers, to prevent third parties and malicious snoopers from tracking you. We recommend ExpressVPN, though NordVPN is a great alternative if you’re on a budget.
Which VPN Is Most Secure?
Just like anonymity, it’s difficult to pinpoint a single VPN as the most secure. The thing is, top-ranking VPNs such as ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and Surfshark don’t disappoint when it comes to protecting user privacy and security.